Capoeira
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, music, and spirituality.
It includes acrobatic and complex manoeuvres, often involving hands on the ground and inverted kicks. It emphasizes flowing movements rather than fixed stances; the ginga, a rocking step, is usually the focal point of the technique. Though often said to be a martial art disguised as a dance, capoeira also serves as a way to maintain spirituality and culture.
Capoeira has been practiced among Black Brazilians for centuries. The date of its creation is unknown, but it was first mentioned in a judicial document under the name Capoeiragem in 1789, as "the gravest of crimes". In the 19th century, a street fighting style called capoeira carioca was developed. It was outlawed and its performers persecuted. In the early 1930s, Mestre Bimba reformed traditional capoeira and developed the capoeira regional style. The government came to see capoeira as a socially acceptable sport. In 1941, Mestre Pastinha later founded his school where he cultivated the traditional capoeira Angola, distinguishing it from reformed capoeira and the "national sport" approach.
In the late 1970s, trailblazers such as Mestre Acordeon started bringing capoeira to the US and Europe, helping the art become internationally recognized and practiced. On 26 November 2014, capoeira was granted a special protected status as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. It is presently practiced all over the world, has appeared in commercial martial arts films, and has influenced the fighting styles of some practitioners of mixed martial arts.
Etymology
In the past, many participants used the name angola or the term brincar de angola for this art. In police documents, capoeira was known as capoeiragem, with a practitioner being called capoeira. Gradually, the art became known as capoeira, with a practitioner being called a capoeirista. In a narrower sense, capoeiragem meant a set of fighting skills. The term jogo de capoeira is used to describe the art in the performative context.Although debated, the most widely accepted origin of the word capoeira comes from the Tupi words ka'a ''paũ'', referring to small forested areas in the Brazilian interior where fugitive slaves would hide.
History
In the past, some participants used the name angola or the term brincar de angola for this art. In formal documents, capoeira was known as "capoeiragem", with a practitioner being known as a "capoeira". Gradually, the art became known as capoeira with a practitioner being called a capoeirista.Capoeira first appeared among Africans in Brazil, during the early colonial period. According to the old capoeira mestres and tradition within the community, capoeira originates from Angola. Although the origin of capoeira is not entirely clear, many studies have supported the oral tradition, identifying engolo as an ancestral art and locating the Cunene region as its birthplace. Still, some authors believe there were more ancestors besides engolo. However, at the core of capoeira we find techniques developed in engolo, including crescent kicks, push kicks, sweeps, handstands, cartwheels, evasions and even the iconic Meia lua de compasso, scorpion kick and L-kick.
The street capoeira in 19th-century Rio was very violent and far from the original art. This street-fighting capoeiragem was mix of five fighting techniques: foot kicks, head butts, hand blows, knife fight and stick-fighting, only the first of them arguably originates from Angolan art. That now extinct version of capoeira was called capoeira carioca.
Modern capoeira comes from Bahia, and was codified by mestre Bimba and mestre Pastinha, in regional and angola style. Despite their significant differences, both mestres introduced major innovations — they moved training and rodas away from the street, instituted the academia, prescribed uniforms, started to teach women and presented capoeira to a broader audiences.
Contemporary global popularity
is likely the first capoeirista to perform abroad, traveling to Americas and Europe during the 1950s and early 1960s. Nestor Capoeira likely became the first to teach capoeira in Europe. After receiving his red belt, he ventured abroad, teaching in London in 1971 and touring European cities for three years. Since the 1970s, Mestre Lucídio taught capoeira in Japan. Jelon Vieira began teaching capoeira in New York City in 1975. He founded the Capoeira Foundation in the U.S. in 1976. Demonstrations by Vieira may have inspired the incorporation of some capoeira movements into breakdancing. Bira Almeida, Mestre Bimba's student, settled on the West Coast of the United States in 1979. Afterward, numerous Brazilian groups toured Europe, the United States, and other countries, showcasing capoeira alongside other Brazilian rhythms and dances. Almeida reported that in 1984 there were about 300 capoeira students in California, 60 in New York, and about 100 scattered elsewhere.In 1987 Senzala teachers Mestre Peixinho, Sorriso, Garrincha, and Toni Vargas spent six months in Europe, organizing workshops and the first European Capoeira Encounter. In 1992, João Grande, a highly respected capoeira mestre, established his academy in New York. Since 1988, Mestre Paulo Siqueira has organized the annual summer meeting in Hamburg, which became one of Europe's largest capoeira events. In 1994, capoeira appeared in an American martial arts film, Only the Strong. In 2001, Europe saw its first native mestre, Edgardo Sananiello.
In April 2002 the First International Capoeira Championship of Asia and the Pacific took place in Sydney, featuring 60 groups. In 2002, a Brazilian capoeira group also traveled to Angola to connect with the roots of the art form.
In 2004, capoeira appeared in a variety of American movies, TV shows, and video games and became a fitness trend. Anthropologist Katya Wesolowski notes that "capoeira had become an 'exotic' dance-fitness fad stripped of contextual signifiers and packaged for global consumption." As of 2006, Nestor Capoeira estimated about 7,000 capoeira students in the United States.
Capoeira today is an active exporter of Afro-Brazilian culture all over the world. Present on every continent, every year capoeira attracts thousands of foreign students and tourists to Brazil. Foreign capoeiristas work hard to learn Portuguese to better understand and become part of the art. Renowned capoeira mestres often teach abroad and establish their own schools. Capoeira presentations, normally theatrical, acrobatic and with little martiality, are common sights around the world.
Generally, globalized capoeira tends to be highly inclusive. The capoeira school has become a space where "class, ethnic, gender and cultural differences are played out and renegotiated". Moreover, Wesolowski suggests that it has become increasingly globalized: "Early capoeira migration from the 1970s to 1990s was predominantly to North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan--places where Brazilian instructors hoped to improve their quality of life. Starting in the early 2000s, capoeira groups were popping up in African, South American, and Caribbean locales."
In 2014 the capoeira circle was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the convention recognised that the "capoeira circle is a place where knowledge and skills are learned by observation and imitation" and that it "promotes social integration and the memory of resistance to historical oppression".
Techniques
Capoeira is a fast and versatile martial art that is historically focused on fighting when outnumbered or at a technological disadvantage. The style emphasizes using the lower body to kick, sweep and take down their aggressors, using the upper body to assist those movements and occasionally attack as well. It features a series of complex positions and body postures that are meant to get chained in an uninterrupted flow, to strike, dodge and move without breaking motion, conferring the style with a characteristic unpredictability and versatility.The ginga is the fundamental movement in capoeira, important both for attacking and defending oneself. It has two main objectives: one is to keep the capoeirista in a state of constant motion, preventing them from being a still and easy target; and the other, using also fakes and feints, is to mislead, fool or trick the opponent, leaving them open to attack.
The attacks in the capoeira should be done when opportunity arises, and though they can be preceded by feints or pokes, they must be precise and decisive, like a direct kick to the head, face or a vital body part, or a strong takedown. Most capoeira attacks are made with the legs, like direct or swirling kicks, rasteiras, tesouras or knee strikes. Elbow strikes, punches and other forms of takedowns complete the main list. The head strike is a very important counter-attack move.
The defense is based on the principle of non-resistance, meaning avoiding an attack using evasive moves instead of blocking it. Avoids are called esquivas, which depend on the direction of the attack and intention of the defender, and can be done standing or with a hand leaning on the floor. Many esquivas also include an arm in a cross block position as a second line of defense against an attack. A block should only be used when the esquiva is completely non-viable. This fighting strategy allows quick and unpredictable counterattacks, the ability to focus on more than one adversary and to face empty-handed an armed adversary.
A series of rolls and acrobatics allows the capoeirista to quickly overcome a takedown or a loss of balance, and to position themselves around the aggressor to lay up for an attack. It is this combination of attacks, defense and mobility that gives capoeira its perceived "fluidity" and choreography-like style.